A 1.1 million-square-foot office tower complex designed by Johnson / Burgee is currently for sale in Dallas, Texas.
Organized as a trio of conjoined 19-story towers topped with mansard roofs and connected by arch-topped skywalks, the office complex rises behind a low-rise hotel designed in a matching style by the architects. Only the office portion of the complex is for sale, The Dallas Morning News reports. According to the newspaper, the Crescent office complex, as the development is known, was recently renovated and was the largest development project in Dallas history when it was built during the 1980s.
Estimates for the property, which is owned by JP Morgan Asset Management, indicate that it could be worth more than $700 million.
43 Comments
Here's a better image for that headline.
now THAT's a mansard roof, man!
What's a Mansard Roof?
A mansard roof is what everyone was expecting to see when they clicked on the headline. Instead the only image provided didn't show it until citizen came along.
What a model citizen.
It's true. I have done some modeling.
sorry, friends! I couldn't find a good image of the full building that was in the public domain.
Lil' twitter argument about which is Philip Johnson's worst building. Some say this, some say the architecture school building, I say this palladium-windowed monstrosity:
Philip Johnson did some terrible work. He also did some amazing work. It's a shame everyone always focuses on the bad stuff but hey man(sard) c'est la vie!
and i would agree with Donna. that's about as bad as it gets.
Makes you wonder whether he was using a box of revit dropped through a wormhole from 2014.
I've never seen this one. Ugh. What are the chances that all those arched openings are blind, and occur above the ceiling line? (I did a quick search and don't quickly find any interior shots.)
This building is not much different from the average USA high rise of today in Austin or Nashville where 3-5 different kinds of curtain wall are applied on each elevation without any real logic. Philip Johnson got there first!
The curtain-wall developer monstrosity didn't win a Pritzker, though.
As insult to injury, this building is basically across the street and - while it's not amazing - I think it pulls off the same schtick way more successfully.
EDIT: Turns out this is an early-ish Adrian Smith building. I had no idea.
I non-irnically think that's a handsome building, tduds.
The building is nice architecturally. And what that grand portal does urbanistically is even better.
Donna: same! The big portal in the middle is a wonderful public space.
Hard to find a photo of this, and even then the photos don't do it justice.
I forgot, the view from this side is even better (i.e., worse)!!
OMG CITIZEN YOU ARE CORRECT!!!
UGH it hardly seems possible but that makes it WORSE!
Donna, stop! You're hurting me!
=O/
WAIT: but this is how it's represented in the real estate company's video brochure:
Will we ever know the truth? Any Boston 'necters out there who can let us know?!
Might have been a remodel?
I saw those half round topped windows on a church in my area today. They always said Philip Johnson promoted modernism as he had a lot of stock in Aluminum, so maybe this was just a window type promotion some rich sucker paid for.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlgNFwoApec
Nice song, video, and graphics.
But still no mansard roof.
That mansard-monstrosity would look amazing being blown to smithereens...
Back to Boston and Donna's intrepid research. I think we may have found our answer. It appears from this leasing company photo (so comically staged) that the original ceiling line would have hit the arched transom's sill -- hiding the curved opening above. Currently, some dropped ceiling has been removed, opening up the space's height (per tduds' remodel proposition).
The photo doesn't show the arched openings, damn it. But this could explain the more recent exterior shot showing the full window lit up.
Palladian? Puhleeze!
The bigger a mansard roof becomes, the uglier it gets.
This comment reminds me of my theory of early high rise buildings in NYC...it's basically Paris with 6 extra floors, for example -
My God! Is there more than one of those?
Is that a challenge, give me a second.
Image #1 - The Dorilton
Image #2 - The Chatsworth
Now I want to review how it's neighbor, The Heritage at Trump Place, pays some respect to the Paris PLU at NYC steroid heights...its huuuuuge.
Ok, but are there other huuuge Mansards
oh yeah baby - The Heyday of Mansard Roofs
Image #3 - it like says it at the top
nice bar at ground level, btw.
on the down low French Style - New Era Building (New York City)
well it's French a top of a lot of floors...The Plaza Hotel
What I figured out was this -
So some American Architects studied in Paris...came back to the states and
Developer Dude was like "For me to spend that kind of money I'll need to add at least 6 floors!"
Young 'merican architect says "Sure thing, as long as I get to sketch some fancy pants roofs."
Which reminds me, a decent Brad Pitt movie - Meet Joe Black Let's just put a mansion on the top
That's the plaza across the street.
See you can live anywhere if you have enough money.
Cozy!
Those mannerist US versions are nice to poke fun at, always. Unfortunately that's what usually comes to mind when people hear "mansard."
But the normal, humble form --that became a staple of certain building types where workaday architecture and construction met up with legal regulation and aesthetic fashion-- this is what we should think of. Key element: they're pitched at the top, not flat.
Pitched, because rooftop swimming pools are bad when they're accidental.
.
Well now you're just being mean, tduds.
so they saw this and said, why not for a Mansard
M Frame.
OK, I don't like mansards in general, but *this* mansard, where the mansard is 25 times as tall as the wall? I love it!!!
I love that Twitter handle, btw.
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